Our penultimate dinner in San Francisco, at a place we've been to 3 or 4 times in past visits, was slated to be sold to a South Bay restaurant group a couple of years ago. When that deal fell through, in stepped the real estate agent working on the deal; living a few blocks away, loving the restaurant herself, she ended up buying the restaurant. Many of the staff remains from way before the pandemic hit; heck, we even recognized our waitress from a prior visit! Welcome to Noe Valley's spectacular La Ciccia, one of the very few Sardinian restaurants in the country. (There is a place in Miami Beach, Sardinia Enoteca (which skews more generalized Italian), but that's the extent of Sardinian places I know and have been to).
There used to be a rule to not use cameras or cell phones at the table; I believe that rule has been changed (even though I used to sneak pictures), as no one seemed to mind my snapping away. No one, that is, except my dining companions - yes, we once again met friends for dinner!
We shared a number of starters:
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Classic Sardinian salad of celery and bottarga. Funky and delicious, simply dressed. The high quality of the roe makes this dish special.
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Roasted Monterey squid, with basil oil and greens. I love this dish. Each of us had a pasta, with Significant Eater having her favorite spaghetti with bottarga. I, on the other hand, had a special pasta of the day:
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A spicy, fantastic fresh pasta with Dungeness crab. Which I could possibly eat every day.
Friends split the lamb loin drizzled with Saba as their secondo:
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We shared the oven roasted whole prawns:
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Cheese was had. Desserts were had (gelati, panna cotta). Lots of wine, too; what can I say, we only see old friends once in a while!
And I am so glad this restaurants remains in good hands.
COMP DISCLOSURE: Dessert wines all around.
